


Safer When I’m With You

by DancingBlights



Category: Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: A little bit of angst, Fluff, Gen, I repeat, I was watching rebels and the juxtaposition of CW Ahsoka and Rebels Ahsoka was weird, If you haven’t watched that Do Not Read This, Platonic Cuddling, Sibling dynamic between Rex and Ahsoka, Spoilers for Clone Wars Season 7, Spoilers for Victory and Death, They’re brief but they’re there, so this happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:07:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24191062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingBlights/pseuds/DancingBlights
Summary: Ahsoka has been running herself ragged for a while now. Thankfully, now she has one of her big brothers back to protect her, even if just from herself.
Relationships: Background Alexsandr Kallus/Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelious, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 8
Kudos: 167





	Safer When I’m With You

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Devil Town by Cavetown  
> The full line is “But I feel a little safer when I’m with you” which seems to fit Rex and Ahsoka’s dynamic fairly well

Ahsoka’s shuttle attaches to the Ghost with a thump, the familiar hiss of the life support systems evening out heralding the arrival of Fulcrum. The crew of the Ghost sits in the main room. Hera, Kanan, Sabine, and Ezra are all huddled around the circular table, Zeb and Kallus are pressed close where they lean against the wall opposite the door, and Rex is settled into the large chair Sabine had found around base and appropriated when Rex became a somewhat regular member of their crew.

They all look up when the door opens with a gentle whoosh and admits one Fulcrum, extremely tired and battered, who looks to be at the end of her rope. Quiet greetings scatter around the room and Ahsoka simply nods in reply, slinking over to where Rex is sat in his too large chair and collapsing onto him. Rex huffs a surprised breath and shifts his charge around until her somehow still bony elbows aren’t jabbing him in the stomach and her montrals, considerably larger than they were the last time she did this, aren’t in his face.

Once they’re arranged comfortably, Rex settles, one arm protectively around her waist and the other rubbing at the places where her montrals meet, remembering how her headdress would rub wrong as she grew out of it. He watches her as she drops off, curled in his lap as best as she can, expression relaxing in sleep after a long and stressful mission. She knows that the Ghost will get her home safe, trusts them to protect her.

A quiet snap draws his attention to where Sabine has just taken a holo from her place by the table, everyone’s awed expressions finally registering. It occurs to him that the crew of the Ghost has only ever seen Ahsoka on missions, calm and unflappable in the face of everything. They didn’t see her going through puberty on a Venator class cruiser and battlefields, unable to hunt the way her species should. They didn’t see her collapse on any and all troopers that held still long enough to find themself an unwitting mattress for an exhausted teenage togruta.

Rex puts a finger over his lips, grinning when Ahsoka grumbles and shifts in her sleep until he takes up his massage again. Ezra’s mouth hangs open and Rex checks that his little sister is fully asleep, always practically dead to the world, before he speaks.

“You’ve all never seen her do this, huh?” Everyone shakes their heads, eyes still trained on the sleeping agent. “Must be running herself ragged if she hasn’t been able to crash like this since the war. Kid used to stop and fall asleep on anyone who would let her after tough missions.” He keeps his voice quiet and gentle, loathe to wake her. “She fell asleep on the General once, Kix loved it because he finally pinned Skywalker for medical treatment.” He meets Kallus’ eyes and sees someone who knows the exact type of bone deep exhaustion that caused Ahsoka to collapse like this. Rex also notices how Kallus leans into Zeb’s side, Zeb’s arm snaking around his waist to hold him securely at his side.

“It’s so weird to see her... normal, I guess.” Ezra whispers. “It’s hard to think of her at my age.” Rex chuckles low in his chest, nodding. 

“You two would have gotten along like a house on fire. It’s good you weren’t a padawan back then, you, Ahsoka, and General Skywalker would have single handedly taken the entire Separatist fleet down while crashing the entire Republic fleet and been back for dinner.” Kanan winces, he had heard stories of Skywalker and his disastrous missions, everyone had.

“What was it like?” Hera opens her mouth to cut off her youngest, but Rex shakes his head, having Ahsoka, his littlest vod, even if she was older than him in years, close again was soothing some of the pain of the memories.

“Chaotic. General Skywalker had a high success rate and we sustained some of the lowest casualties in the GAR, but it was never easy. His plans were always complex and often seemed outrageous, even if they worked.” Ahsoka shifts in her sleep, one hand wrapping around Rex’s forearm, likely picking up on his reminiscing. “The general had a habit of throwing me off of things with the force whether I wanted to or not.” He chuckles, knowing that his memory of the event was rosier than the actual experience had been.

“He threw you?” Kanan demands, surprised a Jedi would treat one of their men like that. Rex nods.

“My general was good, brave and kind, but didn’t always think before he acted. It’s why he ended up in as many situations as he did. We had a conversation later, after Kix beat some sense into him about why I seemed rattled and was avoiding him. He apologized for treating me like a tool rather than a person and we agreed that he’d work on that.” It had been a hard conversation, fighting through Anakin’s ingrained lack of interpersonal awareness and desperation to fix whatever he had done wrong. It had been the beginning of the vode of the 501st helping Anakin grow up a little.

“And Ahsoka?” Sabine asks, leaning forward in her spot next to Kanan. A laugh huffs out of Rex, as quiet as he can manage.

“There’s a reason people used to say that padawans take after their masters. Their first mission was a success, but they butt heads the whole way. Apparently, Ahsoka pulled a wall down around Skywalker to take out a group of clankers and spooked him. He called her Snips for good reason.” The look on Anakin’s face when she had first called him Skyguy still made Rex laugh, as does the look on hers when Anakin called her Snips.

“Snips?” Zeb this time, the pair in the corner having been quiet the whole time.

“Ahsoka’s always had a stubborn streak a mile wide and was more than willing to challenge anyone if she believed that they were wrong. Skywalker taught her how to do it a little more subtly than she had. She was just a reckless as he was, jumping headfirst into battle to save any vode she could.” He pauses, looking back down at Ahsoka, despairing quietly over how old they both are, how much they’ve both lived through. For just a moment, he doubts that either of them could truly live in a peaceful galaxy, far too used to war to adjust. “She’s the reason I’m still alive.” Silence reigns for a moment.

“What changed?” Ezra ducks his head a little when all eyes shift to him. “In Ahsoka, I mean? She’s always the first to advise caution now.” A deep sigh shifts something in Rex, revives an old ache.

“She was on a cruiser with the 332nd and a few choice members of the 501st when the Order came. While, technically, she wasn’t a  jetii  anymore, she had her sabers back, so the Order made us all see her as one. I managed to fight it long enough for her to find me and get my chip out, but we lost everyone else on the cruiser. So many of my brothers, gone.” The quiet turns somber, everyone on the Ghost is familiar with the cost of war. “She changed, more than she had after the Order cast her out.” He huff again, a wry laugh at the ironies of life. “She more of  jetii now than she ever was in the Order.” Kanan nods quietly, understanding exactly what Rex means.

“It’s easier to see the hypocrisies and contradictions of the Order now that it’s gone. Even if we’d won the war, I don’t think the Order would have survived.” Rex’s answering nod is somber, they both know that if the Republic had won the war, the order may have been dissolved, but its members would still be alive.

Ahsoka stirs in Rex’s lap and brings the attention of the room to her as she blinks her eyes open and yawns, her jaw cracking with the effort as she shifts to sit up as best she can. She surveys the room with bleary eyes, ending on Rex who grins back at her.

“Morning, Commander.” She flips him off as she rotates until she’s sitting sideways across his lap, leaning against the arm of the chair. “Sleep well?” Ahsoka frowns at him although there’s no bite to it, the pair falling into an old habit of teasing each other.

“Enough to tide me over to write my report.” She pokes at his stomach. “You’re a lot more comfortable than you used to be.” Rex barks out a faux offended sound, eliciting a peal of laughter from Ahsoka. 

“You calling me fat, kid?” Her laughter echoes around the room, drawing smiles from everyone else.

“Nah, but your armor is seeming a little strained recently.” Rex lunges for her but she’s danced out of his reach, darting off of his lap and onto the bench around the table, pulling Sabine in front of her as a shield. Sabine puts both hands up, tucking her head in case Rex plows straight through her for his sister.

What happens instead is that Ahsoka vaults over the table in a motion that is just a tad too slow and Rex snags her around her waist, dragging her down into a headlock. He rubs his knuckles into the top of her head as she flails to try and get him off. Everyone knows that she could get loose if she wanted, but is allowing the friendly wrestling.

He lets her go when she’s laughing hard enough to shake the both of them. It’s strange for everyone to see the hardened war veterans laughing like kids, playing, a moment of levity in the dark cloud that has been the fight against the Empire.

For just a moment, the fourteen year old padawan and the ten year old soldier shine through the jaded force wielder turned intelligence agent and war weary solider.Ezra leans into Kanan.

“I don’t know what it is, but I’m feeling...” Kanan nods, slouching a little to whisper back.

“I know, it’s the force, it’s lighter when Ahsoka is happy, when all of us are happy. What you’re feeling is the physical manifestation of hope in the force.” Ezra smiles and lets Kanan wrap an arm around his shoulder and pull him close. Across the room, Zeb is rubbing his cheek gently against Kallus’ temple, Kallus leaning into him with his eyes closed and a gentle smile on his face. Sabine and Hera are pressed against each other. They all know that as soon as they land the war will resume and the dark cloud will return, but for this night, the force sings around a family, happy in their togetherness.

**Author's Note:**

> The end of Victory and Death left me speechless and looking back on it the Ahsoka standing over the wreckage is the beginning of the Ahsoka we see in Rebels. I’ll probably write a character study on that at some point.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
